Sale of the National Lottery

Last Updated: Tuesday 27th October 2009, 12:56 pm

The National Lottery is a private company in the UK which is operated by Camelot and owned by five equal shareholders but four of the five shareholders are putting their portion of the company up for sale. So what will the sale of the National Lottery mean to the average player who buys tickets?

The UK National Lottery is currently owned by confectionary producer Cadbury, the Asian technology giant Fujitsu, French electronic systems company Thales, banknote producer De La Rue and the Royal Mail. Cadbury, Fujitsu, Thales and De La Rue have all put their share of the National Lottery up for sale stating that the National Lottery is no longer core to their businesses with only the Royal Mail wanting to retain their shares.

Since the lottery news story broke about the National Lottery being put up for sale there have been many rumours about potential buyers. Some of the parties supposedly interested in buying the National Lottery include Richard Branson, who narrowly failed to win the operating license from Camelot when it was last granted in February, Cinven, a shareholder of bingo operator Gala Coral and also the American firm General Atlantic.

There is another possible buyer. A group of private-equity firms is looking at the possibility of joining forces with Camelot’s senior management to bid for the lottery operator. If successful, Camelot intends to float the National Lottery on the stock market, possibly within three years.

So what will this actually mean to the average lottery player who buys tickets? As the National Lottery is regulated by The National Lottery Commission under the National Lottery Act 2006 it is unlikely that there will be any immediate change to the National Lottery.

If you want to buy tickets for the National Lottery you can do so quickly and easily by clicking the ‘Buy Lotto Tickets’ link at the top of the page.